1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a detachable door hinge for a motor vehicle door and including a first hinge flap connectable with one part of a door assembly, one of a door and a door pillar; a second hinge flap connectable with another part of the door assembly, another of the door and door pillar; a hinge pin for connecting the first and second hinge flaps for a pivotal movement relative to each other, with the hinge pin being supported in a gudgeon of one of the first and second hinge flaps by maintenance-free bearing means for rotation relative to the one of the first and second hinge flap and being connected with a gudgeon of another of the first and second hinge flaps, which is detachably connectable with a respective part of the door assembly, for joint rotation with the another of the first and second hinge flaps, and with the hinge pin having a radially extending shoulder engageable between adjacent surfaces of the gudgeons of the first and second hinge flaps, a cone adjoining the radially extending collar and which tapers toward a free end of the hinge pin and is received in a corresponding conical enlargement of a gudgeon bore of the another of the first and second hinge flaps, and an attachment extending into the gudgeon bore of the another of the first and second hinge flaps and having an outer thread, and a nut for preventing an automatic lifting off of the another of the first and second hinge flaps, with the nut having a conical collar engageable in a corresponding conical enlargement formed in the gudgeon bore of the another of the first and second flaps opposite the conical enlargement for receiving the hinge pin cone.
2. Field of the Invention
Detachable door hinges of the type described above are used in modern motor vehicles in order to detach a vehicle door, which has been attached to the vehicle body and adjusted thereto, after the vehicle body has been coated, to equip it with the accessories and to subsequently attach it to the vehicle body during the final assembly without any adjustment and alignment. With the detachable hinges of the type described above, a uniform cylindrical portion of the hinge pin, which extends in the gudgeon bore of the detachable hinge flap, should have a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the gudgeon bore in order to enable or to facilitate a mechanized re-attachment of a motor vehicle door to the motor vehicle body.
Therefrom, it follows that centering of the hinge pin in the gudgeon bore, namely, of the hinge pin cone which, on one hand, adjoins the hinge pin shoulder and, on the other hand, adjoins the nut, with respect to a conical enlargement of the gudgeon bore of the detachable hinge flap for receiving the cone is necessary. A centering position of the hinge pin cone and the conical enlargement of the gudgeon bore is achieved upon screwing of the nut onto the threaded hinge portion. The retaining of the centering position of the hinge pin with respect to the gudgeon of the detachable hinge flap is based on the achieved, as a result of screwing of the nut onto the hinge pin, surface pressure between the hinge pin cone, on one side, and on the other side, the nut cone and the conical enlargement of the hinge bore of the detachable hinge flap.
In order to provide for a such implementation of the support of the detachable hinge flap on the hinge pin, with the gudgeon bore tilting relative to the hinge pin as a result of ever increasing weight of modern vehicle doors resulting, e.g., from mounting therein motorized drives, e.g., a window opener, the threaded connection of a nut with an appropriate attachment of the hinge pin is arranged above the gudgeon of the detachable hinge pin.
With such an arrangement, the screwing of the nut onto the hinge pin can actually be prohibited for heavy vehicle doors. This is because the gudgeon of the detachable hinge flap gradually occupies a position at which it extends at a certain angle toward the hinge pin axis, or because the door gradually sinks. It is also necessary that the threaded attachment of the hinge pin, onto which a nut is being screwed, is sufficiently long which requires that an unfavorable and relatively long detachment path for detaching the hinge be provided.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is a detachable door hinge for a motor vehicle door of the type described above in which the above-described drawbacks of mounting of the detachable hinge flap on the hinge pin is reliably prevented, without increase in the manufacturing and/or assembly costs.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a detachable door hinge of the type described above in which a stable radial support of the detachable hinge flap on the hinge pin is reliably insured.
A further object of the present invention is a detachable door hinge of the type described above in which the length of the hinge pin is reduced.